Editing Plate tectonics (section)

=== Exoplanets ===
On Earth-sized planets, plate tectonics is more likely if there are oceans of water. However, in 2007, two independent teams of researchers came to opposing conclusions about the likelihood of plate tectonics on larger [[super-Earth]]s<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Valencia |first1=Diana |last2=O'Connell |first2=Richard J. |year=2009 |title=Convection scaling and subduction on Earth and super-Earths |journal=[[Earth and Planetary Science Letters]] |volume=286 |issue=3–4 |pages=492–502 |bibcode=2009E&PSL.286..492V |doi=10.1016/j.epsl.2009.07.015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=van Heck |first1=H.J. |last2=Tackley |first2=P.J. |year=2011 |title=Plate tectonics on super-Earths: Equally or more likely than on Earth |journal=[[Earth and Planetary Science Letters]] |volume=310 |issue=3–4 |pages=252–61 |bibcode=2011E&PSL.310..252V |doi=10.1016/j.epsl.2011.07.029}}</ref> with one team saying that plate tectonics would be episodic or stagnant<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=O'Neill |first1=C. |last2=Lenardic |first2=A. |year=2007 |title=Geological consequences of super-sized Earths |journal=[[Geophysical Research Letters]] |volume=34 |issue=19 |page=L19204 |bibcode=2007GeoRL..3419204O |doi=10.1029/2007GL030598 |doi-access=free}}</ref> and the other team saying that plate tectonics is very likely on super-earths even if the planet is dry.{{sfn|Valencia|O'Connell|Sasselov|2007}}

Consideration of plate tectonics is a part of the [[search for extraterrestrial intelligence]] and [[extraterrestrial life]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stern |first=Robert J. |date=July 2016 |title=Is plate tectonics needed to evolve technological species on exoplanets? |journal=[[Geoscience Frontiers]] |volume=7 |issue=4 |pages=573–580 |bibcode=2016GeoFr...7..573S |doi=10.1016/j.gsf.2015.12.002 |doi-access=free}}</ref>